The Dark Rain
by gradiel
Summary: When an earth bender named Li goes to work he finds an ancient artifact that could change the world or destroy it.
1. Chapter 1 The Green Crystal

Thunder sounded throughout out Republic City and dark clouds seemed to slowly moved their way over the vast city. Many of the people that were walking on out on the streets began to make their way to shelter in fear of the coming storm. Many of the shop owners and business still carried on in hopes of making a few extra Yuans before the storm hit. One could still hear the street vendors selling their wares over the sounds of the thunder. A small boy ran down the main street carrying a stack of newspapers. As the boy ran passed a small tea shop which was packed full of customers that were escaping the soon to come rain. The new model Sato mobile rumbled past the tea shop the driver honking her horn at a cart being drawn by an ostrich horse. The older couple that was riding in the cart steadied the ostrich horse as the Sato mobile flew past down the main street of the city.

All this noise and commotion did not bother Li Fong most of the time. Being used to the noises of the city he slept soundly through the morning before taking his shift at work. However this morning Li Fong was awake because he had not slept at all throughout the night. Li was having trouble slept because of the dreams that came to him. Being a ex-soldier of Ba Sing Se Li had seem a lot of troubling things during the 8 years of service he had with the Earth Kingdom military. Li tried to rub the tiredness out of his green eyes and then he yawned. He ran his hand through his brown shaggy hair and stood up to his five foot ten inch frame. Li then shook his head trying to get the terrible images out of his head. He kept dreaming about the mission he and his regiment had that ended in the deaths of 20 fire bending separatists. Li could never get the faces of those men and women who died at his hand. Though he and his regiment were exonerated and only his captain was found guilty of war crimes. Li still felt the guilty and shameful. Now, he could not figure out why these images were coming back to him.

Li tried to think when were started having these vivid dreams. Must have started right after that new section Foreman Ting wanted done. Li remember this because of the hard time he and his crew had in removed the stones and earth from the hillside. The area which Li was working on was North of the city in near the mountains. From Li's understanding the Council wanted to expand Republic City to accommodate the Cabbage Corp and other smaller manufacturing business so that they do not flood the city with pollution. Also Cabbage Corp's facility did tend to smell bad. Li got up out of his bed and walked over to his small kitchen. Li then lit his stove and put on some water for his morning tea before getting ready for work. Tea always calms me, Li thought. The smell of tea and jasmine fill his small room.

After drinking his tea and getting his work clothes on Li set out to the work site. Living on the second floor of his apartment building Li took the stairs down and walked toward through the small hallway that lead out to main floor of the building. Li went throughout the hallway doors that lead to the main floor as he walked across Li noticed Mrs. Chen trying open the main entrance door to the apartment building. Li could see that Mrs. Chen had her hands full of groceries and her little fire ferret Bo-Bo was squeaking at her heels. Li stopped and focused his chi by dropping into a horse stance. He then thrust his arm out and his palm up. A wave of earth bending energy flowed through Li and snaked its way to the door metal. The door gave a shutter and it opened banging against the wall. "Thank you Mr. Fong" Mrs. Chen said. "You are always the proper gentlemen" With that Mrs. Chen smiled at Li and continued her journey to her third floor apartment with Bo-Bo trotting behind her. Li considered offering to carry the groceries but that would make him late for work and getting on Foreman Ting's bad side was not a pleasant thing to.

He then briskly walked out of the apartment building and turn down the street which would lead him to the taxi cart service that ferried all the city workers. Lightning streaked across the darken sky making Li look up. He noticed the dark clouds and thinking that it was going to rain soon he picked up his pace. Ten minutes later Li was on the taxi cart along with a couple follow workers on their way to the work site.

"Hey Li" yelled one of the workers in the taxi cart. "Me and a couple of buddies are going to go to the pro-bending arena to watch some matches you want to go?" Li looked over at the speaker and shook his head no. Li hung his head down and looked at the floor as the taxi rumbled on through Republic City. It took the taxi about 30 minutes to travel from the pickup point to the worksite. As they traveled Li felt a few drops of rain on the top of his head which made him look up at the sky. It seemed to leave that the clouds were getting much darker. Thunder began to rumble again much louder this time and Li wondered if this was going to be a very bad storm. Perhaps he thought that they may cancel work and will get to go home and rest some more which he really wanted to do. The taxi stopped at an intersection because there was a slight traffic jam in the middle of the intersection. Li noticed that a Sato mobile and a Cabbage Corp. truck had an accident. The truck Li noted to most of the damage and was flipped over on its side the driver of the truck was yelling at the top of his lungs at the Sato driver. He never understood the fascination of these new motorized machines. After a few minutes a couple of metal Binder officers showed up on the scene. One of the officers lifted the Cabbage Corp. truck up with his bending and set it straight however he saw that the front end of the truck was completely destroyed. The metal benders moved both vehicles out of the intersection so that traffic could continue.

"So Li do you think will finish up at the site today I mean you think the Foreman will finally say were done? I mean really remember working on this project for the past year and always done his move earth around." said Fang. Li looked over at Fang and sighed. Fang was a burly earth Bender a little overweight and he had no hair. His clothes were the same as Li's uniform however it seemed to hardly fit Fang.

"I don't know thing but to me it seems like were more like were looking for something other than building. I did hear rumor that there was gold or some kind of silver in the mountains right near where were working but that's just a rumor." said Li.

"Well, if I find any gold I'm not telling anybody but I'll share couple nuggets with you Li."

Li smiled, he always liked Fang a lot. As they rode on the taxi Li in fang talked over the various pro-bending players and their stats. The ride to the work site was uneventful the rest of the way there. Once Li arrived at the work site he merely went to his portion of the dig site north of a large shill that they were all working on. Foreman Ting had told all the workers that they needed to shape the hill into a square building for storage. But for the past week it seemed like the earth kept getting harder and harder to bend. Even Li who was a metal Bender had a hard time moving in shaping the earth near the hill. Li walked to his work area and surveyed the site. Li noticed that the grass on the hill was very brown almost the color of the earth underneath the grass. Li took up his horse stance and within upward arc was his arm he made a fist which sent a wave of earth bending energy into the hill which moved a good-sized chunk out of the hill. Then he slowly moved his left arm straight and palm up which made the chunk of earth move to the right of the hill where the rest of the piles of earth he'd been moving the previous day. Slowly Li felt drops of rain fall on his head and the thunder rumbled it felt as though the thunder would shake the whole hill apart. Li worked for a few hours then syddly a loud horn sounded and he knew it was time to eat. However, Li just wanted to get done for the day so he worked through his lunch moving rocks and earth. Then when Li started move a large boulder he felt something was different about the earth underneath the boulder and with all his might Li pushed the boulder. The rain started to really pour down as Li struggled with the boulder and suddenly lightning streaked down from the sky and struck the boulder with a large explosion. Li was knocked back and he fell to the ground and when he looked up he saw a green light shining. Li squinted to see where the light was coming from. He could not hear anything because of the ringing in his ears but he could still see. Slowly Li stood but and walked very carefully toward the hill.

"Li! Li! Don't go any closer to that" yelled Fang."Li what are doing?" Fang grabbed his friend and pulled Li back from the glowing green light. Li turned around and punched Fang in the face. Li's face contorted with rage because Fang would not let go of him. The light was calling him, pleading him to...

Suddenly Li sank to hhis knees in the earth. Fang had bended the earth to stop him and Fang walked over to the subdued man and slapped him hard in face. "Wake up Li!" Fang loomed over his friend hoping he would snap out of this wierd trace. Li blinked and looked down.

"How? What? What am I doing stuck in the earth? I don't think this is funny Fang. Foreman Ting is going to anrgy if he catches us goofing off." Fang let out of a sigh of relief and helped his friend out of the earth. They could hear the other workers coming to thier side of the hill to see what had happened. Li looked over at the crowd that was heading for them and he sigh. Li could see Foreman Ting at the lead of the group and the expression on his face could curdel milk. Li looked back over at the hill and the green light had faded. All that was left was a light green crystal the size of a door. The crystal was shaped oblong like it was stretched almost as if it was not a natural formation. Li thought that it could be possible that someone may have left the crystal there. Li knew that some earth benders could bend cyrstals like he could.

"What in the name of the spirits is going on here?" yelled Foreman Ting. "I thought I told all of you that we are not using blasting jelly on this site!" Foreman Ting's face was a very bright red and the veins in his neck bulged out. The foreman was still very new to the site and he wanted to impress his bosses by showing them that he could properly motivate all the workers to finish the job ahead of schedule. "It wasn't blasting jelly sir. It was lighting that hit the hill and made the explosion." Li said. Foreman Ting turned and looked over at Li and Li pointed over and the newly formed crater. The foreman's eyes wided when he spyed the green crystal. "All right the excitment is over everyone back to work." All the workers grumbled as they headed back to thier positions around the hill. Fang and Li started to walk back too but Foreman Ting stopped them. "I want you two to clean this up and move that crystal to tent five and if everyone finishs thier quota today they can leave early" All the workers cheered beacause most of them were already finished thier quotas. Li sighed because he knew he and Fang were going to have to stay late. Li walked over to the crystal which seemed to be much darker or it could be that the sun was covered by the clouds. Li pushed those thoughts away and began to examine the crystal to see how best to move it. Li noted that the sat at a 45 degree angle and it was very smooth. "Fang go and get the heavy cart so when I get this thing out of the hill we can load it up" told Li to Fang. Fang trotted off to get the cart.


	2. Chapter 2 Spear in the Night

As Li and Fang prepared to work on moving the crystal from the hill Foreman Ting went to one of the other side of the hill were the younger fire bending workers worked so that he could make one of them send a message to the council. The foreman knew that this was a huge find and he wanted to show off how he was the one who found the crystal. The foreman did not want any one including the idiot workers to upstage him. The foreman was going to send a messenger to the city council to have the head of the maintenance of the city and the earth kingdom representative to come to the work site. The foreman would then personally escort them to the tent 5 and he would claim that it was he would found the crystal. Then the foreman would slightly nudge the councilman to give him a raise or even share in the profit of selling the crystal. The foreman smiled to himself on how clever he was. He also knew that since he joined the Three Elements Union he would moved up standing in the city. No more slums for me the foreman thought. The Three Elements Union was basically a crime syndicate who masked their illegal activities by promoting the various working companies in the city. The foreman picked up his pace because he wanted to get the message delivered as fast as possible and to get out of the rain. When he arrived at the western side of the work site he found a couple fire bending workers milling about waiting for the earth benders to mold the clay bricks that was going to be the foundation of the new buildings that was going to be built around the hill.

"Hey you! Uh Bei-Mo err Mei Moo" the foreman yelled at the group of fire benders. They were all looking at the foreman funny because none had those names and the foreman rarely remembered anyone's name. "You there with the red cap" the foreman pointed out. "I want you to run a message to the city council." The fire bender with the red cap slowly made his way over to the foreman. The foreman gestured at the fire bender to follow him to his tent so that he could prepare his message. They walked over to the foreman's tent and the foreman went over to his desk. The foreman then began to write his letter as he wrote he put in a special code for the Three Elements Union so that they would now about the crystal too. The foreman made sure that they would send a representative here to over see the situation and how it would benefit for he knew that if the union made a profit with this find he would get ten percent. The foreman rolled the parchment up and sealed it with red wax which marked the message as an emergency. Foreman Ting knew this was very risky considering he was going to evolve the union who were not on the council's good side. Foreman Ting handed the rolled message to the fire bender. "Now I want to go to the stable and get on an ostrich horse. Ride nonstop to the city and go straight to the earth bending council man." foreman Ting stated to the fire bender. "Do not talk to anyone about what happened today." Foreman Ting put a lot emphasis on that last statement so that the worker knew he should obey to the letter and not message anything up. Foreman Ting watch the worker in the red cap run off the stables. Smiling to himself he went back into his tent and laid down on his cot to take a nap. He figured by the time he woke up the councilman and the union would be on their way to the work site.

As the messenger left the work site Li and Fang were trying the hardest to move the green crystal from the hill. At first they tried to earth bend the crystal out but the crystal seemed to resist earth bending completely. Li suggested that he and Fang dig around the crystal to loosen it up and then carry it to the cart. After an hour of digging the two men found out that the crystal was much larger than the thought. "This thing is as big as one of those boulders over at the quarry. You know the ones they use for concrete" Fang exclaimed. Li agreed with his friend and he tried to think of a way to move the crystal boulder out of the hill. As Li looked over the hill the rain began to lighten up and the clouds were beginning to break up. Li went and placed his hand on the crystal. Li noted that the crystal was very cold and that it was very smooth on the surface. LI then sent a pulse of earth bending energy through the hill to see how far the crystal was embedded in the hill. Getting the general shape of the crystal Li figured he and Fang could bend enough earth around the crystal to moved on to the cart.

"Ok Fang here is the plan. Well bend the earth around this thing and we'll move it to the cart. I think that will be best because this will take a few days just to dig out by hand. We don't have time to be wasting like that and Foreman Ting will have our hides if we don't get this done." Said Li.

"Good plan Li, but do you think the cart will hold it?"

"It'll have too or we just go back and tell Ting we can't do it." Li looked at his friend and the look on his face showed that he's rather be eaten by a platypusbear than face the foreman. So Li and Fang stood at each side of the crystal and focus their chi's. At first there was nothing but the sound of the small rain drops hitting the ground. Then the earth rumbled and began to shake. The earth seemed to slide all over the crystal and slowly the crystal began to move up and out of the hill. With a loud sucking sound the crystal which was covered in mud came out of the hill. Focusing all his chi Li swept his arms toward the cart and the mud covered crystal moved over to the cart. Fang slowly began to shift his horse stance to a front stance and he thrust out both his arms one hand was in a fist and the other in a spear thrust. The two men repeated the form and the crystal was set upon the cart. The cart creaked very loudly and it sank down because of the weight of its cargo. Li and Fang got onto the driver's seat of the cart and directed the ostrich horse to tent 5. The two men drove thier cart about a half mile from the hill where tent 5 was located. Tent 5 was used for storage of equipment and blasting jelly which is why it was guarded. Tent 5 was gaurded by a fire bender and a water bender who were loyal to The Elements Union. They also doubled as enforcers for some of the top officals from the union as well. The two gaurds eyed the cart that apporached them and without a signal the water bender stood in front of the cart.

"Whats your bussiness here?" the water bender gaurd asked smartly. The gaurd placed his hand on cap of his water skin ready he was ready for any trouble. Li wiping his brow to get some of the rain soaked hair out of his eyes and he looked to to the gaurd. "We are delivering this cargo to tent 5 by the foreman orders." The gaurd jestered to his partner and the firebender walked to the back of the cart. "So the foreman sent you did he? Did he give you any paper work to go along with this stuff that you have in the cart?" The water bending gaurd asked. The fire bender wiped some of the mub off the crystal and gasped. He'd never seen an crystal like this. Must be worth a fortune he thought to himself. The guards knew that the foreman probably sent a message to one of the bosses. They also knew that they were going to get a cut out of the profits with this score too. The fire bender smiled to himself.

"All right I don't seem a problem here Fei. Lets set this in the tent and get out of the rain." said the fire bending guard. Fei the water bender nodded and he walked over to the tents flap to open it. Tent 5 was a hugh tent almost as large as one of the circus tents that was used by the Fire Nation circus. Fang whispered to Li "These are always this nervous?" Li could see that his friend was a little bit afraid also it was a long day and the both were very tired. Li knew that the guards were part of the Union gang that run all of the construction businesses in Republic City. He knew it was best not to argue with them because he had heard stories about how they "took care" things. Especially if there was money to be made it was best to step back and not look. Li drove the cart to the stall and climbed out of the cart. He and Fang then went to the ostrich horse and began to unhook it from the cart. A loud cracking noise sounded from behind the cart. Li jumped at the sound and he looked over at the crystal. Just as he was going to check on the crystal another worker appeared at the entrance of the tent and he was talking rapidly to the two guards. The guards didnt look pleased and they kept glancing back at cart. The worker who was talking to the guards walked over to Li and Fang.

"Hey Li, the foreman wants you two to stick around after shift. One of the councilmen is coming to see this thing and Foreman Ting wants some earth benders to be ready to move it" said the worker.

"All right" sighed Li and Fang audibly groaned. They both knew this was going to be all extra hours which meant little sleep and probably not dinner. "we're going to miss the game" Fang complained to Li after the messenger left. Li looked back at the crystal as they walked out of tent 5. Fang placed a hand on Li's shoulder. "You all right Li? You look pale." Fang looked at his friend with concern. Li weakly smiled at shook his head yes and he started more quickly to the entrance of tent 5. Li didn't know why he was so uneasy by that green crystal all he knew he wanted to get away from it. The rain storm began to stop as Li and Fang left tent 5. Fang commented of that he could still see some sun light peeking through the clouds. Li looked back at the tent one more time and he could see that the guards were going into the tent to check out the crystal. Li wanted to warn them to stay away but the ostrich horse began to pull a little hard on the reins so Li's attention was draw away from the tent.

"Hey Fei what do you think our cut is going to be after this job?" asked Bofu the fire bending guard. Bofu was eyeing to crystal and trying to figure out it worth. He figured this large crystal could be worth million yuans. Bofu knew he'd get a cut and he wanted to get out of the city and move back to the fire nation capital. He started to think about the house he was going to get when Fei interrupted his chain of thought. "I don't know what our cut is going to be but I think we should focus on business and get this done quick." Fei had said. Fei then went over to the water pump that was by one of the empty stalls and he used his water bending out of the pump. Fei went into stance forty-seven and had the water spray onto the crystal to clean it off. Bofu had grabbed and brown and began to sweep off the dirt and earth off the crystal to sped up the cleaning. Within a few minutes the crystal was clean however Fei had noted that it didn't sparkle in the firelight at all. The crystal seemed to draw the light away from it. Bofu began to run his hand over the crystal and about the center of the crystal he noted a medium size crack. Bofu sighed because he thought the crack in the crystal maybe lessen its worth. As Bofu looking into the crack on the crystal he noticed that the crystal was not completely clear. He also noticed that the crystal was very cold to touch and for some reason he felt very tired by touching the crystal. Bofu shook his heard and moved away from the crystal he went a joined Fei outside the tent. After a few hours the sun slowly began to sink down and many of the workers were heading to the taxi cart to take them back to the city. The two guards watched as taxis left the work site one by one. About an hour later Bofu lit some of the lamps inside and around the tent he wanted as bright as possible so that everyone who was coming could see. When he returned he could see off in the distance another taxi approaching tent 5. The guards could see that the taxi was almost full of people and they noted that there was a few bodyguards on mounted ostrich horses flanking both sides. Fei noted that this a lot of muscle for simple viewing. When the taxi arrived Foreman Ting was first to leave the taxi and waited from the other to pile out. Six more people go out of the taxi one was a very gallantly dressed man in green, the next one after him was a man dressed in a blue and white suit. Another man the exited the taxi was dressed in black sleeveless shirt and black pants and dark shoes. The other the people that left the taxi were obviously body guards which made which including the two riders five guards in total. The five guards were all dressed in simalr brown suits with short sleeves and black boots. Bofu and Fei could hear Foreman Ting explaining to the three leaders of the Union about the crystal find. The troop of people headed to the enterance of the tent and with a nod from the foreman Fei and Bofu opened the flaps to the enterance to allow all the people in.

"So this thing you found isn't some peice of junk rock is it Ting?" ask the man in blue."I'd hate it if we were lied too and came all the way out here for nothing."

"I explained to you in the message this is the largest emerald I have ever seen councilman Fong." said Foreman Ting very nervously. Councilman Fong who was dressed in green which also marked him as a earth bending master looked hard the foreman. Council man Fong then turned and nodded to one of the guards. She walked over to the crystal and set herself into a front stance with both arms moving up she tried to feel the crystal. As she bend her earth bending energy into the crystal she noticed that her earth bending seemed to be absorbed by the crystal. She stopped her flow of energy and looked over to the council man. Council man Fong suggested to have direct contact with the crystal which would greatly enhance earth bending energy. The guard then placed both her hands on the crystal and thrusted all of her earth bending energy into the crystal. She felt movement in the crystal and suddenly the crystal cracked again on the spot were her hands were touching the crystal. Her hands then seemed to sink into the crystal itself and with a loud crack the crystal closed the crack and trapped the guards's hands in the crystal. She started to scream and the crystal began to glowing green. All the men in the room watched in horror as the guard's bodily form seemed to shrivel up as if something was sucking the life essence out. As the last light of the sun fell beneath the horizon the guard looked as if she were a prune that was left out in the sun too long. Her skin was shriveled up showing all her boned and then her body slumped to the floor of the tent. The crystal had taken her hands some of the guards started to moved to help the fallen guard but then a lound humming sound came from the crystal. The crystal began to glow very brightly so bright that it almost blinding. Then a large expolosion reverberate inside the tent knocking every person off their feet. As Foreman Ting started to get up he looked over were the crystal was. He saw shards of the crystal everywhere. He also saw that the cart that the crystal was on was completely destroyed. Where the cart should have been stood a man. The man was dressed in all black and he was also wearing a black cloak with a hood that went over his face partially. Foreman Ting heard a few people moaning in pain and then he heard the man dressed in blue yell "What in the name of the spirits...You destroyed our emrald with blasting jelly!." He was pointing at the strange man in black. The rest of the guards got up and surrounded the strange man. The man looked up and all the surrounding people gasped. What they saw was a normal face with dark eye brows and small prominate chin. The man also had high cheek which made his face almost angular and femimine but also very male. What had made the guards stop was the strange man's eyes. They were not normal eyes at all but completely black eyes with bright glowing blue irieses. The man in black also began to give off a ominous energy and the guards knew this was no regular human being.

The man with the blue eyes suddenly leaped up in the air and thrust himself to the left landing easily between two of the guards. One of the guards started to turn the dark man punched the guard in the middle of the guard's back. The strike hard and full of energy which sent the guard flying forward. The guard flew fifty feet away which sent him through the tent wall and out of the tent. Then the dark man spun around bringing his leg up into a outside to inside cresent kick on the second guard's shoulder which flatten the guard down the ground. All the bones in his shoulder and chest were crushed in the impact. By the time the second guard went down the other remaining guards started to advanced but then the dark man drew back and focused his chi to the shadows of the room drawing forth their power which created tentacles made of darkness. The dark tentacles grabbed each of the guards and threw them in different directions in the tent. No bender had ever seen this type of bending before. It seemed as if this dark warrior could command the very shadows which is what he was. An ancient line of bending completely forgotten which was called shadow bending or void bending. The shadow bender looked around and extended his right hand suddenly the shadows in the tent crept towards the shadow bender. The darkness slid up and swirled around the shadow bender's hand. The darkness quickly formed into a long spear made of ebony. The shadow bender then spun the spear around and set himself into a fighting stance. The earth bending council bent a three stone strike at the shadow bender but the shadow bender dodged two of the stone easily and using his spear as a bat he hit the third stone back. The redirected stone stone flew back striking the guard that was approaching the shadow bender on the left which sent the guard flying through the tent wall. As the guard flew the shadow bender was already moving forward and the two remaining fire bending guards moved to intercept him. The shadow bender and the guards fought for a few moments. The shadow bender kept a easy rhythm. He knew that the guards were not a match for him and he used the time to plan his next moves. He picked up his pace on the two fire bending guards. The shadow bender struck low at one of the fire bender's leg lifting him up into the air. As the fire bending was lifted the shadow then spun around and used a spinning kick against the other fire bender which made him spin around several times. As the shadow bender finished his spin kick he then brought his spear down onto the chest of the second fire bender who was still in the air. The shadow bender stuck with such force that the fire bender pushed about a foot into the ground. The fire bender who received the spin kick got up on all fours and as he did this the shadow bender twirled his spear and he struck the fire bender his side which sent him into a stall full of digging equipment. The two councilmen left stood in horror as this dark warrior approached them. All in a matter of a few heart beats the shadow bender decimated all eight guards. The water bending councilman turned and fled out of the tent but the earth bending stood in shock. The shadow bender walked over the earth bending council man and the shadow bender placed his hand on the earth bender's face. The shadow bender then used the dark binding ability and sucked out the earth bender's recent memories. He know understood about who these people were and what their intentions were. He also realised that the Avatar still existed which made the dark warrior wonder how much time had passed. He released the earth bending councilman and made his out of the tent. As the shadow bender exited to tent he saw that there were two men hiding behind some barrels. He looked over at them and winked at them which made one of the squeak in fear. The shadow bender struck his spear into the ground point first and he then silently commanded the darkness the carry him to the nearest mountain. The tendrils of darkness swirled around the shadow bender and suddenly he shot upward toward to north.


	3. Chapter 3 Master of Night

Shadow warrior feeling excitement of battle fading away he knew he must hurry to highest point of the mountain to see the stars best. A he flew through the country side the shadow bender noticed that the almost all of the old forest was gone. He glanced west and saw that the one great towers that stood by the sea were gone as well. This made him speed up to his destination. Within in an hour after the fight in the tent the shadow bender arrived at the mountain. He landed on the summit which was covered in snow. He walked to the center of the summit and drew out of his pocket a small blue orb. One of the last great technologies from his people the shadow bender lifted the orb up to the sky. At first there was nothing but the sound of the wind and then a lite humming sounded from the orb. Then the orb began to glow absorbing the star light. The orb shot a cascade of light around the shadow bender and little images began to form. The images were showing the passage of time from when the orb was first deactivated till it was reactivated. The images flashed for many minutes and the shadow bender grew worried. The images stopped at the image of the shadow bender arriving at the mountain. The shadow bender then began to calculate how much time had passed.

"Ten thousand years" the shadow bender whispered. "This cannot be true." But he knew it was because the orb never was wrong. The shadow bender sighed and he knew what must do next. He put the orb back in his pocket and went down to his knees. He began to meditate and slowly he fell into trance. The world seemed to dim and the wind stopped. The moon which as at half went black and out of the darkness a large robed creature appeared. It was eight feet tall even though it looked very frail the shadow bender could feel its power. "Hail! Master of night,long year have passed since one of our order has contacted you."

The Master of Night regarded his most prized and the most hated pupil he had ever taught. How he hated that this one was so powerful yet he would not follow orders. "Ah so you finally wake from you nap have you Metatron? Come to me for answers have you?" said the master scathingly. Metatron looked up at the master and knew this was coming.

"I do want answers master this is true. I see that the land has changed, I feel the energy of a large city near were there should not be a city. What has come to pass master, why was I imprisoned for so long?" stated Metatron. "Has the Avatar finally achieved balance?"

The Dark Master looked sternly at Metatron and a slight grin came across his face. "The Avatar has only achieved balance through war as it was not designed for but humans are always unpredictable."

"Master" started Metatron "I sensed the corruption in the benders that I had fought tonight though they were not powerful as they once were. I can use this corruption to bring balance back and the line of elements will be pure once more" Balance was everything to a shadow bender. Though they were considered as a evil race they ultimately wanted wanted balance in the world. Even if meant to destroy a city or a king or even entire race of people as long as balance was preserved nothing else mattered to a shadow bender. This is why almost all the other benders feared the shadow benders so much. Also some of the shadow bender's abilities crossed the line to being unnatural. Even the great energy benders kept a great distance from the shadow benders. Even though both the energy benders and the shadow benders were mirrors in style and power. However both styles were very dangerous to use because it can destroy a person's chi thus ending their life. When the energy benders separated into the four nations and the four element. They had wanted to further their knowledge of bending but they had not counted on the creation of the Avatar. Metatron knew that the third incarnation of the Avatar was used by the energy benders to start the war with the shadow benders. The shadow benders met the challenge head on and the first battle which took place where the Serpent's Pass now is was a terrible defeat for shadow benders. However many of the masters combined their strength and used the Void Sphere technic which destroyed the valley and created the lake and wall of the Serpents Pass.

Metatron knew that the war had lasted for fifty years and within that time almost all the shadow benders were gone. So Metatron's father lord of all the shadow benders went to the desert to seek the Spirit Library. Wan Shi Tong the keeper of the library counseled that the shadow benders leave this world for the spirit world were no bender could touch them or sleep till no one remembers the shadow benders. Metatron's father knew that if they went to the spirit world they would never return so the lord of the shadow benders ordered almost all of his people to sleep in energy chambers till he woke them. He would go to the spirit world with a select few in hopes of tricking the Avatar and the few remaining energy benders that they had been wiped out. Metatron knew the plan had worked but he had not expected to be asleep for so long.

"Where is my father master? Why had he not come to greet me?" asked the shadow bender.

"He cannot come the other spirits have made him into the night itself. Even the spirits turn their backs to us." lied the master. He wanted to manipulate this one because he was to be free. Metatron's anger grew in is heart and he wanted to find the rest of the sleepers and free them. He would bring the all here and take back what was taken from his people.

"What must I do master?" asked Metatron. The master of night grinned to himself. He knew he would have his vengeance soon and all would be his again. All would bow to him and serve him. The world would be his along with the Avatar's power. "Go to the city of Ohmashu seek the old guard of the south gate. He will show you the entrance to the underground tunnels"

"What will I find there master?" ask Metatron. He waited for the answer but a great gust of wind blew through the summit. Metatron was nearly knocked off his feet. He knew that the Master of Night was gone. Spirits are always trying to be mysterious and important Metatron thought. Metatron knew that all spirits could not be trusted because they had their own agendas. Metatron slowly stood up the wind whipped about him. Its cold biting his skin but the air felt good to Metatron. He felt so alive and free that he could go on forever. He knew he could not delay much longer so the shadow bender took his spear and raised it up toward the sky. Dark tendrils once more snaked their way back to him. In a space of a few heart beats Metatron shot straight up into the sky. He willed himself to Ohmashu . Though he did not know of the city because Ohmashu was not built when he was last freed but he knew the area being place were badgermoles lived. It was also were the first earth benders appeared. Metatron quicken his pace he wanted to get to Ohmashu before the sun rose which would weaken his powers but only slightly because the sun. Though the sun created shadows everywhere so a shadow bender would always have something bend. Some of the masters in shadow bending bend the very darkness within themselves in full daylight however this was dangerous because this could cause corruption of the chi and of the soul. Once a person's chi is corrupted that person is no longer human but a terrible monster and eventually they become a void beast which is a fate worse than death itself. Metatron lost many of his people because of the corruption. The corruption is what prompted the Avatar and last of the energy benders to declare war upon the shadow benders. The Avatar also made sure that all shadow bending was unnatural and the four styles of bending which would become the four nations outlawed any type of shadow bending from being taught in their lands.

All these thoughts swirled in Metatron's mind as he traveled quickly though the country side. He noticed that there were many roads built throughout the land. Even some of the small villages he passed over had roads and lights. When he flew passed a small village beside a river Metatron saw a few people out and they seemed to be arguing about something. So the shadow bender slowed downed to listen. He could feel that two of the people were not benders but the other four people were benders. Metatron could feel their energy it made him stop and land lightly in a tree which was near the arguing people. He noted that all them were fire benders and by how they moved they were not very powerful. Metatron could tell that they mostly used their bending to bully had almost no skill in combat.

"You owe the triple triads fer setting up that daughter of yours! We housed her, fed her, gave her job. You owe! Now pay up!" said one of the fire benders that was the leader of the group. He had yellow hair streaked with red which made it look as if his head was on fire. They all wore smart black and white suits with gold buttons. Another one waved his large knife at the couple.

"Please sirs, we sent the money to Zolt two weeks ago. He had to have got it." pleaded the man who was obviously the father. The fire benders snickered at the man. "Yea he got it alright but that girl of your's isn't the quality Zolt wanted so he sent he to the Mud House. She'll fit right in there if she lasts a week and since Zolt wasn't to pleased with what you sent he figures you owe." laughed the fire bender with the red and yellow hair.

"The Mud House! No not my little Kiko!" cried the mother as she clutched her husband. The fire benders advanced on the couple. Grinning to himself the leader of gang grabbed the husband by the shirt and pulled him to the ground. "You'll pay in one way or another and then your precious little Kiko will pay too. She'll pay all of them very well in the Mud House."

Metatron watched the events that played out from his perch in the tree. Anger festered within him but he knew this was not part of the Master of Night's plan. The shadow bender gritted his teeth and a old memory came into his head. The memory was of his father and of happier times. Metatron was just small boy and his father was training him the a very hard part a the shadow form. Metatron asked his father when he would be able to fight for his father. The old lord looked hard at his son. Then he knelt down and placed a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. When he spoke to his son the lord said very softly.

"This war is not about us versus them or who is right or wrong. It is not about land or wealth. It is not even about winning. This whole war is about balance. Balance is the world and within ourselves and you must find your own balance in your heart my son. For when you find this balance in yourself you will wield a power greater than anything in this world."

"Even greater than the Avatar?" asked the boy. "Doesn't all the benders say he will bring balance?"

"I do not know my son, I only know that the Avatar is now against us now as well and has say we are unnatural for the lies of the energy benders." Said the lord to his son. His father seemed tired to Metatron which made him want to help. The old lord smiled at his son and gestured to Metatron to continue his training. Ten years passed after that exchange with his father and Metatron would be become a great warrior. He had famously led the his people to victory at the Battle of Silver Tear but he was notoriously know not to follow orders. Many of the leaders did not like him but his father would always support him. As these thoughts swirled in his head Metatron decided that he would show the world and all then benders and all the people of the world that the shadow benders are needed in the world for balance. With that decision Metatron dropped down from his perch in the tree and landed behind the fire bender with the red and gold hair.


	4. Chapter 4 Shattered Spirit

Metatron grabbed the fire bending leader by the shirt and pulled back. The fire bending gang leader flew back smacking hard against a tree. As the fire bender with the fiery hair hit the tree the shadow bender was already bending the darkness of the trees to form a wave of darkness which knocked the other three gang members out into the middle of the gravel road. Two of the fire benders got up and look surprised as the dark warrior approached them. Metraton dropped into fighting stance and twirled his spear. He then motioned to the fire benders in a challenge to fight. The fire benders looked at each other and at some unknown signal they all attacked Metatron a once. Fireballs sailed at the shadow bender but the he moved left to right easily dodging two of the fireballs. As he moved Metatron spin around and holding his spear like a bat he smacked the third fireball back toward his opponents sending them sprawling. As the fire benders tried to move out of the way of the reflected fireball Metatron then thrust his spear out to the right most fire bender and sent a dark ball of energy into the fire bender's chest. The fire bender flew back his body striking the many trees on the other side of the road. The other two fire benders then attacked using fire whips at the shadow bender. Metatron using the bladed end of his spear he cut the fire whips easily and as his made each cut the shadow bender moved closer to the fire two men desperately tried to fight the terrifying warrior. Metatron closed in his distance and spin around the fire bender on the left. As he spin he brought his spear down low catching the fire benders leg and thrusting upward sent the fire bender in the air. Grasping his spear with both hands Metatron struck the fire bender in mid air sending him crashing back to the ground crushing his ribs. The third fire bender looked wide eyed at his opponent. Metatron looked hard the fire bender and the bender turned and fled screaming.

The leader of the gang of fire benders slowly got up and saw that his friends were hurt and defeated. Rage coursed through the fire bender's veins. He could not believe that his friends were defeated so easily. "You'll pay for this! No one attacks the Triple Triads and gets away with it" shouted the fiery haired man. He then shot his best move at the shadow bender, which was called the lighting serpent. Lighting streaked across the road toward Metatron. As the lighting closed in to strike the shadow bender he raised his right arm the palm of his hand raised up as if he was going to stop the lighting bolt. The bolt struck the shadow bender's hand. The energy coursed through his body. The fire bending gang leader grinned triumphantly thinking he had hurt his opponent but he did not understand what it meant to be a shadow bender. Metatron took in the energy of the lighting bolt and as the bolt was still connected to the fire bender's chi Metatron started to take the fire bender's energy as well. The fire bender felt his error as his body was drained of energy and his life force. The fire bending gang leader tried to stop his lighting bolt but it was too later and in horror he felt his life drain away. The husband and wife that the gang was trying to extort money from watched as the flaming haired man seemed to shrivel up like a prune. the lightning ended and a strange silence filled the forest.

The husband and wife watched as the shadow bender calmly walked over to them. Metatron's eyes glowed brightly from all the energy he had taken from the fire bender. He knew that the small family was afraid of him because of his appearance so he stopped a few feet from the to humans. "You are safe now. Fear nothing else this night." Metatron said as he watched them. "Who are these people and what is the this Triad?"

"They are terrible people who use us non-benders to get money and power'" stammered the husband as he held on to wife.

"So things have not changed" Metatron said to himself. He looked at the two humans and felt their fear. Sadden he started to turn away when the husband touched his arm. "Thank you. " Metatron smiled and walked off into the woods. Things will change he thought as he prepared to continue his way to Ohmashu. He gathered his power and shot straight up in to the air. As he made his way to the earth bending city of Ohmashu Metatron thought of his next move. He knew that the shadow master wanted war and revenge. But Metatron knew this was not the way to seek his people's revenge. What he wanted was to only exist. That was real balance he thought. Metatron then picked up his pace because he knew that morning was coming which would make his powers fade. Even though he could still bend in full daylight it wasn't as powerful. Also some abilities were limited so Metatron knew he would be careful not to reveal what he was to the people.

Metatron came upon some small mountains and he could see the many caves that dotted them. He could feel the earth bending badgermoles within going about the mountains digging the holes and paths within. Soon Metatron could see the city lights of the great city of Omashu. He noted that it was much bigger than he remembered. He could also the vast shoots and slides throughout the city. Metatron figured it must be some kind of delivery service for the city. He silently flew over the wall of the city and headed eastward. Metatron landed between two shops and started walking his way out onto the street. He saw that one of shops was had clothes in it's windows and sign that read "Newest Men's fashion from Republic City". The shadow bender took out a blue crystal and held it up to the shop's window. A soft blue light came from the crystal and slowly the blue focused on clothes. As the light covered a set of brown and green suit Metatron's clothes began to change. The process took about a minute and now Metatron had a disguise. No one would know what he was in regular clothes of these people in the city. Metatron looked around to see if any people were out on the street. Making no one was looking he bent down and placed his hand of the ground. He sent a wave of energy through the earth As the energy wave passed through the city it stopped at spot near the palace of Omashu.

As Metatron made his was through the city of Omashu the Avatar was having terrible dreams as he slept in his room on Air Bender Island. He dreamed of people screaming and darkness. He could see Republic City being swallowed in flames and death. The Avatar tried to help but a terrible dark beast stood in his way Challenging him with its great red eyes. Then a booming voice rang in the Avatar's ears "The world must stay in balance!" yelled the voice. "The darkness is coming!" Just as the terrible beast was going to slice the Avatar with its blacken claws he woke with a start. Shaking he looking around the darken room for the beast that was in his dreams. The Avatar looked over to his sleeping wife. He could hear her slow breaths as she slept soundly. Sighing the Avatar got up and padded over to the wash room. He then turn on the light lamp that was just installed and looked into the mirror. The Avatar saw a man in his mid fifties looking back at him. He could see the line of age that was set at the corners of his eyes and his beard was salt and peppered. Even his tattoos seemed to be faded a little. He turned on the faucet and splashed some water on his face. The Avatar reached for a towel to face and as he did so he looked back into the mirror. In the mirror he saw a great shadow behind him. Fear gripped the Avatar as he spun around the face the darkness but when he turned there was nothing. The Avatar went back to his bedroom and looked at his sleeping wife. He then got dressed and went out to the stables to check on the new litter of sky bison. As the Avatar walked through his house he paused at his children's rooms. He made sure that they slept peacefully. Then he saw out of the corner of his eye a person standing at the end of the hall. The Avatar thought it must be his wife which made him smile. He turned to greet her but was surprised to see no one was there. Curious, he made his way down the hall he turned to the right which lead out side and he could see that the door was open. Frowning he made his was down to the open door. He first thought it was one of the servants who worked for him but he knew that they had left the island early yesterday evening. When the Avatar walked out the door to the middle of the courtyard he could see someone standing a good distance away. The Avatar could see that it was a man and he was dressed in red and silver. He thought the man in red was a firebender because of his dress but when did firebenders ever wear silver. Also the Avatar felt spirit energy from the strange man. The man dressed in red motioned for the Avatar to follow him.

The Avatar follow this strange spirit to to docks that faced to city. The Avatar could see that see was dressed as a fire bender but that clothes looked unlike any fire bending clothe he had ever seen. He could see that the spirit was facing the city watching it. The Avatar cautiously approached the docks. He could hear the wave of the sea gently lapping the beach and the cool smell of the sea water felt good to the Avatar. The Avatar walked up to the spirit and as he was about to touch the fire bending spirit the spirit turned around. Facing the Avatar he could see that this fire bending spirit seemed familiar to him. "Yes I am familiar. I am you Aang. I was the first fire bending Avatar. My time i short and I must warn you that an ancient enemy is about to rise. It could destroy the world and you must fight it." As the spirit spoke Aang could see that he was fading becoming more transparent.

"Beware the darkness and fear it followers. The beast of the night. The bea..." and with that the fire bending spirit vanished completely. The Avatar tried to call upon the spirits when he needed guidance but all he got was silence. Not even Hei Bai would not answer. Aang knew then that something terrible is going happen. The Avatar hurried over to the staples to see his old friend the sky bison Appa. Appa was very old now most of his fur was greying. His arrow was almost completely faded now. The Avatar smiled at his sleeping friend. With a gentle touch the Avatar woke his sky bison. "Come on buddy we got some work to do" Aang said to his sky bison. Appa grunted and slowly got up. Aang jumped onto the sky bison's back and said "Yip Yip". With that they were off rising quickly into the open sky. They soared toward the city and as they flew Aang could see that the city seemed to be waking up. Many people were already out and getting ready for the day. The Avatar was always impressed by how much the city had grown over the years and he was glad of the relative peace between the nations. He headed straight for the council which was in the middle of the city. The Avatar arrived at the city council building and directed his sky bison to land the court yard. Some of the metal bending guards rushed up to greet to the Avatar. However Aang told them the he was in a hurry and had to speak with the council. Aang made his way over to one of the council member's office that he knew would already be here. Aang could see the light coming from and he picked up his pace. When he got to the office he could a man at a large wooden desk. The man had grey hair which was tied back in a pony tail. He wore a blue and grey shirt and Aang could that the man did not hear him when Aang tried to get his attention. So Aang grinnned and twirled his staff which bent the air around the staff. Aang then sent the small cyclone to the desk which scattered all the papers and startled the man in blue.

"Hey! I working on that proposal for the Chen district." cried Sokka. "What's going Aang and why are you here so early?"

Aang told Sokka about his vision and the about the warning he didn't say anything about not being about to contact the spirits. Sokka thought for a long moment. He then looked at his oldest friend. "There is not much we can do Aang. That spirit didn't tell you what this thing is or anything. I think we should watch and see if anything weird happens. Besides the opening of the new garden park for the city is opening tomorrow and I need to there to help."

The Avatar sighed. "You don't need me there. You just want advertisement for your new park."

"You're supposed to be for the people being the Avatar. Besides you don't really know what or how to look for so you might as well have so fun."

The Avatar sat down in one of the chairs in office and he had no choice but to agree.


	5. Chapter 5 Edge of the Sword

Tiki slept soundly in his guard shack. His snores rumbled loudly enough that anyone who walked by could hear him. As Tiki slept he did not hear someone coming into his little shack. A dark shadow loomed over the sleeping guard and a strong hand grasped Tiki's shoulder and shook him.

Sputtering Tiki mumbled that he was awake and on full alert. He tried to salute but the ended up smacking himself with his hand. He looked at the man that was in his guard shack and he was surprised that it was not the captain that was assigned the west gate. The man the stood in front of Tiki was tall with dark hair and he was dressed in a suit that most rich business owners usually had on. Tiki started to tell this strange man to leave his shack but that is when he noticed the man's eyes. They were blue but they also glowed. Tiki rubbed his own eyes thinking that maybe he was still dreaming but they man continued to stay were he was. "Who..." Tiki started to say but the man with the glowing eyes interrupted him.

"Where is the entrance to the caves underneath the city?" said the strange man. Tiki blinked stupidly at this strange man. Suddenly the shadow bender grabbed Tiki by the front of his shirt pulling out a of chest hairs in the process and he lifted Tiki several inches off the ground. Tiki struggled but he could not break the shadow bender's grip. "Where are the caves?" the shadow bender said again. He could feel the man's fear now as he struggled to get out his the shadows bender's hold but Metatron shook Tiki roughly. Tiki's teeth smacked loudly against each other. "The...the enterance is near the palace garden near the falls." Tiki stammered.

Metatron left the guard shack but when he reached the doorway Tiki stammered "Who are you spirit? Did the avatar send you here?" The shadow bender looked over his shoulder and grinned at Tiki. Looking at the confused guard the shadow bender commanded the darkness of the room to swell. Very quickly dark tendrils formed around Tiki grabbing hold of his arms and legs pulling him down to his knees. Tiki struggled against the bending shadows but he could not break free. The darkness slithered over Tiki covering his body almost completely. With his head only being exposed Metaton calmly walked over to Tiki. Metatron then placed his hand on the struggling guard's head. "See what I am." It was just a whisper but the power of the words fill the room. Images flooded into Tiki and he experience all the centuries of life the shadow bender had experienced all at once. All the emotions hit Tiki like a hammer and he gasped. His eyes widen and he opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. There was only the flood of power coursing into the guard then the shadow bender release Tiki and the guard fell over. Shaking and mumbling to himself he stared off like he was trying to look at something far away. The shadow bender left the guard shack and made his was to the falls. Tiki never recovered from his experience. He was found a little later that morning by the next guard that was going to replace him for the day. No water bending healer could not heal Tiki so they sent him to a mental hospital in Republic City.

Metatron made his way to entrance the crystal caves beneath the city. He noted that three were no guards and the was only a large earth made door that blocked the way in. The shadow bender studied the door very closely. He could feel the energy in the door and he could tell that the door was recently made. As with all elemental bender Metatron knew that the energy that was used to bend something would eventually dissipate. Which in turn would weaken any object that was bend. There were a few exceptions such a energy bending or continuous bending of any material. Some earth that could bend metal or crystals could make their constructs last. There were very few fire or water benders that could make their bending last without the need of constant energizing the object that was being bent. With this knowledge Metatron knew that he could get past the large earth made door. He place the palm of his hand on the door and concentrated on the energy that held to door together. He could feel it flowing all over the door then the shadow bender sent his own negative energy into the door which disrupted the energy that held to door. The door feel apart in a large cloud of dust. As the shadow bender walked into to the tunnel he tried to remember the last time he was here. He knew that a lot of time had passed because he could see many new crystal structures. He could also tell that there was recent earth bending done to the tunnel because it was wider and more smooth when he was last here.

A few thousand years have passed thought Metatron as passed the tunnel. The shadow bender figured that nobody would remember any of his people. That thought made him sad because he knew that he was the only one left. Metatron could still sense some of the others that were still sleeping in their Dream-Crystals. All shadow benders were mentally linked to each other which made them able to sense each other thoughts and feelings. Shadow benders could use this ability to help each other in battle or share ideas. This mind connection also made them susceptible to the influence of spirits as well and this is how the first Avatar who was under the guidance of the energy benders was able to defeat the shadow benders in the first war. It took the combined armies of the energy benders and the Avatar to defeat the shadow benders. Afterwards the shadow benders retreated into the mountains west of the earth kingdom and dwelt there till the fourth Avatar rose to power. As Metatron continued on old memories of his home flooded into his mind. He thought of the great city of Dim and it's Fountain of Light. When the sun shone upon the fountain it absorbed the light and spread the held light throughout the city. The fountain light made the city of Dim seem to glitter. Although the people of Dim did not communicate with outside world there were times when some trade did happen between the Earth Kingdom and the city of Dim. The rest of the nations did not know that the city even existed except through rumors. The city of the shadow benders flourished for four hundred years. The people in the city of Dim grew powerful in their bending and in their technology. Through their blending of bending and their machines the shadow benders created dream-crystals and the great Tower of the Dragon.


End file.
